The University of Florida’s Claire Bartlett (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) posted convincing singles wins in the first round of the Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships held at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

 

Bartlett defeated UCF’s Allison Hodges, 6-1, 6-4, while Will took down Stetson’s Katherine Nowicki, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the round of 32.

 

“They both played very, very well,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I was happy to see that some of the things we’ve talked about and that they’ve worked on was implemented. Their composure was great today and they showed a lot of improvement in the things we’ve been practicing. Today was a great start. The competition gets tougher as we move deeper into the draw so we’ll have to continue playing well.”

 

UF freshman Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) earned the No. 1 seed in the 64-player draw and received a first-round bye. She also is the No. 1 seed in doubles, pairing with Will. The Gator tandem also received an opening-round bye in the 32-team doubles event and will hit the courts on Saturday morning.

 

Weather has already altered the tournament, which was supposed to begin Wednesday with qualifying action. That was cancelled leaving only the 64-player singles main draw and a 32-team doubles event.

 

The winners of the singles and doubles tournament advances to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, considered the second leg of the collegiate Grand Slam. That event will be held at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in West Haven, Conn., Nov. 5-8.

 

The 32-player singles draw will consist of the 12 regional champions, the four Riviera/All-American semifinalists, the super bowl champion, two host wildcards, 12 at-large bids and one ITA wildcard. The 16-team doubles draw is comprised of the 12 regional champions, the Riviera/All-American champion, the Super bowl champion, one host wild card and one at-large selection.

 

A change was made during the summer to increase the number of regions from eight to 12.

 

The new region alignment that includes the Gators fields 19 schools from the states of Florida and Georgia and renamed the Southeast Region. The schools include: Bethune-Cookman, Central Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast Univ., Florida International Univ., Florida State, Florida, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Mercer, Miami, North Florida, South Florida and Stetson.

 

 

Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships

Bill Moore Tennis Center

Atlanta, Ga.

Hosted by Georgia Tech

 

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

 

UF Results Only

 

Singles, First Round (Round of 64)

(1-seed/not ranked) Lauren Embree (UF), received bye

(6-seed/not ranked) Allie Will (UF) d. Katherine Nowicki (Stetson), 6-1, 6-2

Claire Bartlett (UF) d. Allison Hodges (UCF), 6-1, 6-4

 

Doubles, First Round (Round of 32)

(1-seed) Lauren Embree/Allie Will (UF), received bye

 

-UF-